'Gentle man' has not come home

Harry Blanding is a "good, quiet, gentle man who works for his family," said his pastor, the Rev. Harry Clark of Pleasant Valley Presbyterian Church in Brodheadsville.

Blanding, 38, whose family consists of his wife, Debbie, and their three small children, remains among those missing in Tuesday's terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Harry Blanding works for the Aon Corp., an insurance company on the 100th floor of the south tower.

The Blanding family lives in Tobyhanna Township. His wife was too distraught to speak with a reporter Friday, but Clark related some of what the family had been through.

Clark said Blanding called his wife from work when the first hijacked jetliner hit the north tower.

"He called immediately after [the first] tower was hit," Clark said. "He said something to the effect, "Debbie, you won't believe what's going on.' He described it to her, they talked a few minutes, then he said, "I gotta go,' and hung up."

Clark described the family as "all-American." They attend church regularly and were among the first families to join the congregation when it was chartered 10 years ago.

Debbie Blanding is a full-time homemaker, he said.

Clark baptized the couple's 14-month-old baby, Benjamin, this spring. The Blandings other two children are Hayley, 4, and Jeremy, 2.

Debbie Blanding's hopes shot up Thursday when her husband's name appeared on a Web site listing survivors' names, Clark said.

"However, we came to find that information was not reliable," he said. He continues to wait with the family.

"This is your basic American family man," Clark said. "He commutes into New York City every day and is devoted to his church and his family."